Homily 30th Sunday A 2008
Exodus 22: 20-26; Psalm 18; 1 Thes 1:5-10; Matthew 22:34-40
Every week someone stops to see me to inquire about a relative who might buried in our cemetery. While our church is over 150 years old the first burial in the cemetery was about 15 years later. There are many people who enjoy tracing their family genealogy. Everyone wants to know where their family came from. What is almost always the case is that our families originated in a foreign land. The true ''Native Americans'' are the exception. What is sad is that most people now are so far from their immigrant roots that they either do not know or have forgotten what drove their ancestors to come to the United States. What is equally sad is that very often the children and grandchildren of immigrants often admire politicians who promise the most rigid and harsh laws towards immigrants dwelling in our country today.
In New York harbor stands the Statue of Liberty with the words of Emma Lazarus: Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Send these, the homeless, to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" For the first time in history, oppressed and persecuted people everywhere had hope — hope that if they were able to escape the tyranny under which they suffered. America was a beacon of liberty which shone through the darkness of oppression, persecution, and tyranny. Millions, like the Irish who built this parish, knew that there was a nation to which they could flee.
Currently, there are issues related to illegal immigration that must be resolved, but too many discussions dehumanize the ''illegals.'' In order to deal with the issues, we try hard to forget we are talking about people. It is no secret that some undocumented people sneak into the United States for criminal purposes, but the majority sneak into the United States seeking something better. Many sneak into the United States for the same reasons our own ancestors came: for a better life or to flee tyranny.
By the time of Jesus, the Jewish Law included 613 commandments, 365 prohibitions (do Not), and 268 prescriptions (do) So it would have been appropriate for a lawyer to ask Jesus which one of these 613 laws is the most important. And that is what the Pharisee did. But the Pharisee was not really interested in knowing which was the most important law, but he wanted to trick Jesus. According to the Jewish religion all laws were equally important because they believed that all laws were from God; therefore, all were important. To pick one law over another was not to be done. If it was done, it would surely have resulted in a huge controversy that would have made of fool of Jesus.
Jesus could have answered the question by giving a long discussion of Jewish laws, But Jesus did not answer that question directly. Instead he quotes the Jewish book of Deuteronomy: You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. Jesus went on to add another law which was written in the Jewish book of Leviticus: You shall love your neighbor as yourself'. By saying that commandment is like the first, Jesus links the love of God and the love of neighbor. They are different aspects of the same reality and can never be separated. They form what is known as the Golden Rule: Love God as you love your neighbor, and love yourself as you love your neighbor.
The Book of Exodus expresses in detail what some of those hateful things might be and what it means to show love in action. Not mistreating widows and orphans. One must not oppress or grind down the poor in any way, but treat them as we would to be treated. The Law seeks to provide justice for the least within society, as described in the phrase ''widows and orphans.'' This was a male society. Women and children gained their status from their fathers, husbands or husband's families. Women and children without such an attachment became beggars. They were defenseless. How we treat such persons can reveal a lot about our character and our spiritual life. We must never take advantage of them or of anyone.
People were to be helped through lending money, not exploited. Making money off a borrower was a sin called ''usury.'' Lending was seen as helping a person as God would help them. For instance a person who lends money must be fair, and not take advantage of the misfortunes of the poor or of those in need of the money at this time.
God's law was compassionate, and it demanded that the defenseless be cared for. Much of Jesus' life was spent reaching out to those whom society had forgotten. He sought out the ''widows and orphans'' in order to restore them to the Kingdom of God. The society had forgotten them, but God hadn't.
Paul, in writing to the Thessalonians, reminds them that the Gospel that spoke the loudest was not spoken, but lived. The loudest message of the Gospel was the example Paul gave. He credits the Thessalonians' success in gaining converts to their own example.
Our whole religion now can be seen in the relationship of loving God and loving our neighbor. Everything we do and say should be somehow connected with this.
As we conduct our political debates, as we decide how to deal with the undocumented, as we look to the reality of the poor, we are reminded today of the context we must use for all of our discussions: the context of Love.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Homily for the Week of October 18, 2008
HOMILY: Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2008
World Mission Sunday
Isaiah 45: 4-6; Psalm 19; 1 Thessalonians 1-5; Matthew 22: 15-21
As you may know there are many publishers which provide Sunday bulletins for parishioners. After reviewing many of these 8 years ago I decided on the one we have primarily because of the excellent spiritual reflections on the front of the bulletin and then the Dear Padre section on the back. Those of you who have brought home one of our bulletins every weekend for the last 8 years, and kept the Dear Padre section have on hand an encyclopaedia of basic information on our Catholic faith in all of its dimensions. This week Rose asks the Padre about why must each nationality has its own Mass. On any given weekend, on both the East and West Coasts of the United States, Mass is celebrated in more than 65 languages. What is the significance of this fact?
On the one hand it clearly reminds us how universal is the Catholic Church and how far and wide it extends, literally to the ends of the earth. St. Ignatius of Antioch whose feast we celebrated on Friday, was the first to call us Catholics in the year 85 A.D. He did not call us Roman Catholic because the center of the church was not in Rome.
It also illustrates how diverse is the service required by the Church in our country – outreach to a diverse group of people who speak many languages. We might be surprised how many foreign-born priests offer such service to the Church here at home. They are both immigrants and, at the same time, missionaries to us, in much the same way that Italian, French,Irish and Spanish missionaries from Europe served our country just over a century ago.
Much of California's history began in the 1700’s when Father Junipero Serra started the Spanish Missions. The chain of 21 missions along 650 miles of California's Royal Highway from San Diego to Sonoma represent the first arrival of Catholic missionaries to California. They were priests of the Society of Jesus and Francsicans. Every one of the California missions tell a story about the history of California. We are all familiar with their names such as Santa Clara, San Luis Obispo, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, San Jose, Los Angeles, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz. They were all named in memory of a Catholic saint or of Jesus or the angels.
Missionary priests also settled along the Mississippi River to New Orleans, and the French, Irish and Italians in the Eastern States.
We would not have a church here in Cadyville if 160 years ago, Father James Rooney, a priest of the Oblates of Mary of Ireland, had not decided to be the priest for the Irish immigrants who came here to raise their families. Once a month or once every other month he would come from Plattsburgh and stay in the home of some family. He would have Mass, baptise the new born children, anoint those who were very sick, and then witness the marriage of young couples, and with their moms and dads, teach parents and their children about the Catholic faith and prepare them for First Communion.
Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, commented on the diverse makeup of our Church when he visited with us in April of this year. He found here a young and vibrant Church; the influx of immigrants has certainly contributed to that fact. Our Holy Father also noted that many of the vocations to the priesthood here came from first and second generation immigrant families. Such were Fathers Francis and Clarence Devan and Father Ed Delaney who brought up on farms on the Hardscrabble Road and became priests in this Diocese. That was 56 years ago. No one from St. James Parish have decided to become priests since then. I am sure many young men have been invited by God, but none have answered.
Till 100 years ago this year the United States was dependent on the Catholic parishes of Europe for their priests and nuns, and for much of the costs associated with the running of a parish. This year we celebrate 100 years of being “mission independent” as a national church – no longer dependent on the sacrifices of the Catholics of Europe through the Society for the Propagation of the Faith – and as we gather at the altar to celebrate World Mission Sunday, our thoughts, prayers and offerings are directed to one place – the altar. At the Table of the Lord, intimately in the presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, we renew our commitment to our vocation to be missionaries. This vocation, which each of us received at Baptism, is to, in the words of today’s Psalm, “Tell the Lord’s glory among the nations; among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.
From the original Pentecost event when the first Apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit, were sent to carry this “Good News” to the four corners of the world, until today, that same mandate of Jesus is as active and operative as ever. Go and make disciples of all nations,” St. Matthew tells us in his Gospel. “Baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. Our Lord gave this, His “Great Commission,” to the His first Apostles; it is now our task.
World Mission Sunday unites us in this work of continuing the Church’s missionary outreach – unites us in the continuing Pentecost. At every altar of the world, the language spoken on World Mission Sunday, as it is at every Mass, is the same. It is the language of love as taught to us by Christ Himself. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He is the way, the truth and the life. We are all missionaries to show others the way, the truth and the life. In most places we will be the only Bible than anyone will ever read.
World Mission Sunday
Isaiah 45: 4-6; Psalm 19; 1 Thessalonians 1-5; Matthew 22: 15-21
As you may know there are many publishers which provide Sunday bulletins for parishioners. After reviewing many of these 8 years ago I decided on the one we have primarily because of the excellent spiritual reflections on the front of the bulletin and then the Dear Padre section on the back. Those of you who have brought home one of our bulletins every weekend for the last 8 years, and kept the Dear Padre section have on hand an encyclopaedia of basic information on our Catholic faith in all of its dimensions. This week Rose asks the Padre about why must each nationality has its own Mass. On any given weekend, on both the East and West Coasts of the United States, Mass is celebrated in more than 65 languages. What is the significance of this fact?
On the one hand it clearly reminds us how universal is the Catholic Church and how far and wide it extends, literally to the ends of the earth. St. Ignatius of Antioch whose feast we celebrated on Friday, was the first to call us Catholics in the year 85 A.D. He did not call us Roman Catholic because the center of the church was not in Rome.
It also illustrates how diverse is the service required by the Church in our country – outreach to a diverse group of people who speak many languages. We might be surprised how many foreign-born priests offer such service to the Church here at home. They are both immigrants and, at the same time, missionaries to us, in much the same way that Italian, French,Irish and Spanish missionaries from Europe served our country just over a century ago.
Much of California's history began in the 1700’s when Father Junipero Serra started the Spanish Missions. The chain of 21 missions along 650 miles of California's Royal Highway from San Diego to Sonoma represent the first arrival of Catholic missionaries to California. They were priests of the Society of Jesus and Francsicans. Every one of the California missions tell a story about the history of California. We are all familiar with their names such as Santa Clara, San Luis Obispo, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, San Jose, Los Angeles, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz. They were all named in memory of a Catholic saint or of Jesus or the angels.
Missionary priests also settled along the Mississippi River to New Orleans, and the French, Irish and Italians in the Eastern States.
We would not have a church here in Cadyville if 160 years ago, Father James Rooney, a priest of the Oblates of Mary of Ireland, had not decided to be the priest for the Irish immigrants who came here to raise their families. Once a month or once every other month he would come from Plattsburgh and stay in the home of some family. He would have Mass, baptise the new born children, anoint those who were very sick, and then witness the marriage of young couples, and with their moms and dads, teach parents and their children about the Catholic faith and prepare them for First Communion.
Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, commented on the diverse makeup of our Church when he visited with us in April of this year. He found here a young and vibrant Church; the influx of immigrants has certainly contributed to that fact. Our Holy Father also noted that many of the vocations to the priesthood here came from first and second generation immigrant families. Such were Fathers Francis and Clarence Devan and Father Ed Delaney who brought up on farms on the Hardscrabble Road and became priests in this Diocese. That was 56 years ago. No one from St. James Parish have decided to become priests since then. I am sure many young men have been invited by God, but none have answered.
Till 100 years ago this year the United States was dependent on the Catholic parishes of Europe for their priests and nuns, and for much of the costs associated with the running of a parish. This year we celebrate 100 years of being “mission independent” as a national church – no longer dependent on the sacrifices of the Catholics of Europe through the Society for the Propagation of the Faith – and as we gather at the altar to celebrate World Mission Sunday, our thoughts, prayers and offerings are directed to one place – the altar. At the Table of the Lord, intimately in the presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, we renew our commitment to our vocation to be missionaries. This vocation, which each of us received at Baptism, is to, in the words of today’s Psalm, “Tell the Lord’s glory among the nations; among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.
From the original Pentecost event when the first Apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit, were sent to carry this “Good News” to the four corners of the world, until today, that same mandate of Jesus is as active and operative as ever. Go and make disciples of all nations,” St. Matthew tells us in his Gospel. “Baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. Our Lord gave this, His “Great Commission,” to the His first Apostles; it is now our task.
World Mission Sunday unites us in this work of continuing the Church’s missionary outreach – unites us in the continuing Pentecost. At every altar of the world, the language spoken on World Mission Sunday, as it is at every Mass, is the same. It is the language of love as taught to us by Christ Himself. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He is the way, the truth and the life. We are all missionaries to show others the way, the truth and the life. In most places we will be the only Bible than anyone will ever read.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Homily for the Week of October 12, 2008
HOMILY: Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2008
Isaiah 25: 6-10; Psalm 23; Philippians : 12-14; Matthew 22: 1-14
At one time, and maybe even today, when invited to a celebration like a wedding fashion conscious people ask one another: What will I wear? What is the appropriate dress for this party. While there may be no dress code for going to a wedding, or to a high school football game, or to shopping at Walmarts, or to a funeral, or a hunting camp. showing up with blue jeans and a baseball cap at a White House wedding might get the Secret Service’s attention. I received an invitation today to a dinner for the 50th anniversary of Catholic Charities in Plattsburgh with the note saying that dress was semiformal. What does semiformal mean for a Catholic priest? In reality must persons have a sense of what is in or what is out at such occasions. Those who make and sell clothes more or less tell us what to wear.
Our Gospel for today is about a wedding, a wedding invitation and the appropriate dress for this wedding. In honor of his son’s marriage, the king throws a big party and sends invitations to many to come to the wedding. The invited guests refuse to come. We do not know why. Like most weddings we have a lot of guests who can’t make it. The kings problem began when the first list of those invited refused. Then the king gets angry, and send out his army to destroy them. But note also that the king does this only AFTER the invitation is refused. He then sends other invitations to both good or bad. The kind wants people at his son’s wedding. These persons come. But there is a man who was not dressed properly and he was thrown out of the banquet hall. Our initial judgement of the king’s action might be that he was too concerned with clothes.
Like all stories which we Jesus told, this story of the wedding is not really about clothes or the invitation list, but mostly about us. It is about you and me. It is about our goodness. Wearing the clothes of goodness consist in the quality of life and the conduct of the person. The clothes of goodness reveal the authentic character of the person. Wearing the clothes of goodness is the fundamental requirement of a Catholic life. It is really the story of how a person will get to heaven, or how the human race can get to heaven.
Whether we know it or not, we all live with the hope of immortality. We do hope to live for ever with the Lord. How do we attain this immortality? How do we respond to God's invitation to us? Do we just let it happen?
We may have a hard time understanding the power of the wedding banquet image for the people of the time of Jesus, because we so often have so much. All of us may have eaten in a restaurant that features an ALL YOU CAN EAT buffet. But imagine a time and place where only the very, very rich, the kings, did not have to worry about their children going to bed hungry.
In the land of Jesus, as in California and the Southwest, rain greens the hills with grass during fall and winter months but sun and heat slowly scorch them over the course of spring and summer. It is at this time when the land where Jesus lived started getting green. We just prayed Psalm 23, the Good Shepherd psalm in which we picture God as a good shepherd who finds green pastures and running water for the sheep and the cook who prepares a great meal in the sight of his enemies. God is the won who prepares a meal at which all of us are invited to eat.
Isaiah's vision of God's kingdom is of abundance, joy and peace, all the gift of the Lord. He describes the reign of God using familiar, tangible images, and we can easily grasp what Isaiah describes. It is an immortality that immediately appeals. But Isaiah does not simply describe: he teaches. On the day when we attain the kingdom, we will recognize the Lord's goodness and truly rejoice because it is God who saved us.
St. Paul takes a similar approach. He prays that God will supply our needs completely. Paul’s prayer is in response to the generosity of those who supplied all his needs. According to Paul all of us are invited to share in the banquet.
Many think that the story that Jesus gives us in the gospel is about his own life. Jesus did not know how to tell us what it would be like when we died and went to God. So he invites the people of his time to a meal. He invites all kinds of people: tax collectors, Pharisees, those with physical handicaps, the poor, the rich. The first time he invited them, they all came, but when the rich realized that they would have to sit with the poor, and when the Pharisees saw that they were expected to eat at the same table as sinners, they did not come again. They all made excuses so that they would not have to be with those they considered as undesirable.
As we notice from the uninvited guest, God wants all of us to come to the feast. God offers us forgiveness, reconciliation and healing, and rejoices when we accept these gifts. Rejoice with me, the good shepherd says. I have found the sheep that was lost. Rejoice with me, the father says, I have found my son who was lost.
All these voices are the voices of God. God’s joy is to be shared by all. God’s joy is the joy of the angels and saints; it is the joy of all who belong to the reign of God. God rejoices, not because the problems of the world have been solved, not because all human pain and suffering have come to an end; and not because thousands of people have been converted and are now praising God’s goodness, not because our countries financial condition is under control. NO. God rejoices because one who was lost has been found.
Most of us are not use to rejoicing in things that are small, hidden and scarcely noticed by those around us. We are generally ready to receive bad news, to read about wars, violence and crime, and to witness conflict and confusion. Many of us are so use to living with sadness that we have lost the eyes to see the joy, and the ears to hear the gladness that belongs to God. These can be found in the hidden corners of the world.
One hidden act of repentance, one little gesture of selfless love, one moment of true forgiveness is all that is needed for God to welcome a returning son or daughter and to fill the heavens with sounds of divine joy. If that is God’s way, then we are challenged to let go of all the voices of doom and gloom that drag us into disbelief and allow the small joys to reveal the truth about the world win which we live.
Do we really love others as Jesus taught us? Or do we just say that we love others? If we love, then we must forgive. Forgiveness is a measure of our love for neighbor as well as for ourselves. How do we love ourselves? One of the ways we can test our love of self is how well we take care of ourselves physically and spiritually. Do we find time each day to be with others whom we love, or even to be alone to relax and to rest? These are the clothes of goodness-- love of God, love of others and love of self. Are we wearing these clothes? Are we dressed properly for the heavenly banquet of everlasting life with God? Which group of people have not been invited to our table? Putting on Jesus is risky. It means laying ourselves open to being made new and changed.
Isaiah 25: 6-10; Psalm 23; Philippians : 12-14; Matthew 22: 1-14
At one time, and maybe even today, when invited to a celebration like a wedding fashion conscious people ask one another: What will I wear? What is the appropriate dress for this party. While there may be no dress code for going to a wedding, or to a high school football game, or to shopping at Walmarts, or to a funeral, or a hunting camp. showing up with blue jeans and a baseball cap at a White House wedding might get the Secret Service’s attention. I received an invitation today to a dinner for the 50th anniversary of Catholic Charities in Plattsburgh with the note saying that dress was semiformal. What does semiformal mean for a Catholic priest? In reality must persons have a sense of what is in or what is out at such occasions. Those who make and sell clothes more or less tell us what to wear.
Our Gospel for today is about a wedding, a wedding invitation and the appropriate dress for this wedding. In honor of his son’s marriage, the king throws a big party and sends invitations to many to come to the wedding. The invited guests refuse to come. We do not know why. Like most weddings we have a lot of guests who can’t make it. The kings problem began when the first list of those invited refused. Then the king gets angry, and send out his army to destroy them. But note also that the king does this only AFTER the invitation is refused. He then sends other invitations to both good or bad. The kind wants people at his son’s wedding. These persons come. But there is a man who was not dressed properly and he was thrown out of the banquet hall. Our initial judgement of the king’s action might be that he was too concerned with clothes.
Like all stories which we Jesus told, this story of the wedding is not really about clothes or the invitation list, but mostly about us. It is about you and me. It is about our goodness. Wearing the clothes of goodness consist in the quality of life and the conduct of the person. The clothes of goodness reveal the authentic character of the person. Wearing the clothes of goodness is the fundamental requirement of a Catholic life. It is really the story of how a person will get to heaven, or how the human race can get to heaven.
Whether we know it or not, we all live with the hope of immortality. We do hope to live for ever with the Lord. How do we attain this immortality? How do we respond to God's invitation to us? Do we just let it happen?
We may have a hard time understanding the power of the wedding banquet image for the people of the time of Jesus, because we so often have so much. All of us may have eaten in a restaurant that features an ALL YOU CAN EAT buffet. But imagine a time and place where only the very, very rich, the kings, did not have to worry about their children going to bed hungry.
In the land of Jesus, as in California and the Southwest, rain greens the hills with grass during fall and winter months but sun and heat slowly scorch them over the course of spring and summer. It is at this time when the land where Jesus lived started getting green. We just prayed Psalm 23, the Good Shepherd psalm in which we picture God as a good shepherd who finds green pastures and running water for the sheep and the cook who prepares a great meal in the sight of his enemies. God is the won who prepares a meal at which all of us are invited to eat.
Isaiah's vision of God's kingdom is of abundance, joy and peace, all the gift of the Lord. He describes the reign of God using familiar, tangible images, and we can easily grasp what Isaiah describes. It is an immortality that immediately appeals. But Isaiah does not simply describe: he teaches. On the day when we attain the kingdom, we will recognize the Lord's goodness and truly rejoice because it is God who saved us.
St. Paul takes a similar approach. He prays that God will supply our needs completely. Paul’s prayer is in response to the generosity of those who supplied all his needs. According to Paul all of us are invited to share in the banquet.
Many think that the story that Jesus gives us in the gospel is about his own life. Jesus did not know how to tell us what it would be like when we died and went to God. So he invites the people of his time to a meal. He invites all kinds of people: tax collectors, Pharisees, those with physical handicaps, the poor, the rich. The first time he invited them, they all came, but when the rich realized that they would have to sit with the poor, and when the Pharisees saw that they were expected to eat at the same table as sinners, they did not come again. They all made excuses so that they would not have to be with those they considered as undesirable.
As we notice from the uninvited guest, God wants all of us to come to the feast. God offers us forgiveness, reconciliation and healing, and rejoices when we accept these gifts. Rejoice with me, the good shepherd says. I have found the sheep that was lost. Rejoice with me, the father says, I have found my son who was lost.
All these voices are the voices of God. God’s joy is to be shared by all. God’s joy is the joy of the angels and saints; it is the joy of all who belong to the reign of God. God rejoices, not because the problems of the world have been solved, not because all human pain and suffering have come to an end; and not because thousands of people have been converted and are now praising God’s goodness, not because our countries financial condition is under control. NO. God rejoices because one who was lost has been found.
Most of us are not use to rejoicing in things that are small, hidden and scarcely noticed by those around us. We are generally ready to receive bad news, to read about wars, violence and crime, and to witness conflict and confusion. Many of us are so use to living with sadness that we have lost the eyes to see the joy, and the ears to hear the gladness that belongs to God. These can be found in the hidden corners of the world.
One hidden act of repentance, one little gesture of selfless love, one moment of true forgiveness is all that is needed for God to welcome a returning son or daughter and to fill the heavens with sounds of divine joy. If that is God’s way, then we are challenged to let go of all the voices of doom and gloom that drag us into disbelief and allow the small joys to reveal the truth about the world win which we live.
Do we really love others as Jesus taught us? Or do we just say that we love others? If we love, then we must forgive. Forgiveness is a measure of our love for neighbor as well as for ourselves. How do we love ourselves? One of the ways we can test our love of self is how well we take care of ourselves physically and spiritually. Do we find time each day to be with others whom we love, or even to be alone to relax and to rest? These are the clothes of goodness-- love of God, love of others and love of self. Are we wearing these clothes? Are we dressed properly for the heavenly banquet of everlasting life with God? Which group of people have not been invited to our table? Putting on Jesus is risky. It means laying ourselves open to being made new and changed.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Homily for the Week of October 5, 2008
HOMILY: RESPECT LIFE SUNDAY, 2008
Is 5:1-7/ Phil 4:6-9/ Mt 21:33-43
Jesus had a way of getting peoples attention at once. He spoke about things in which people were vitally interested. Today he would probably talk about the this country's discussions about the war in Iraq; he would talk about unemployment and taxes and the increase of violence in all parts of our society. He would undoubtedly talk about the men and women who want to get elected on November 4th. He would talk about the billionaire abortion industry in our country. He would talk about the ageing mother whose children have forgotten her; the prisoner awaiting death for his crimes and the single mother abandoned by the father of her child. He would talk about the littlest, the weakest and the most vulnerable among us. All of these and all of us are part of his vineyard.
Sometimes our country seems like a vineyard which has gone to seed. Where once fertile hillsides and rich vines grew, we find nothing but wild grapes. Our country was founded on the belief that God had
granted every American an inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Yet the easy accessibility of abortion on demand, our lack of concern for the elderly and those most vulnerable, the billion dollar pornographic industry, seem to be signs of a nation gone astray. Such was the condition of Jerusalem in the time of the prophet Isaiah, when God asks them what he has done to deserve this sad state of affairs. He threatens to let the thorns and the briars take over
this wild vineyard, where he looks for justice and sees only bloodshed.
Today’s Gospel completes the analogy. Jesus tells the story of the landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. Of course, the tenants neglect the vineyard, but worse, when the landlord sends his servants and then his son to inspect the vineyard, the tenants kill his emissaries. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes? Jesus asks his disciples. It does not take a Bible scholar to figure out that they will be punished for their mismanagement of the talents which God has given them.
This is the reason why there is an urgency to the pro-life movement today. For there are doctors who have been given the gift of compassion and healing who have used their talents to abort babies, o to euthanize the elderly or those on life support. There are counsellors who have been given the compassion to help those in distress, who urge people to choose to abort their child. There are parents to whom God has given the power to create life with him, who advise their pregnant daughter to get an abortion. There are caregivers for the elderly who refuse to respect their human dignity, and there are men and women in all sectors of society who refuse to use their talents for the promotion of the dignity of life.
In his letter to the Philippians today, Saint Paul gives us good counsel on how to promote the Gospel of Life. He advises that whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. May we commit ourselves to the protection of all human life from conception to natural death that this nation may, once again, be a land known for its honor and its love of the truth, guided by the God in whom we trust.
In our country 22% of all pregnancies end in abortion. Since 1973 45 million babies have been aborted. While we must continue to center our respect for life on the life of the unborn child, we must also care for all of life. That means supporting and responding to the basic human needs of nutrition, health, housing and education. It can also mean caring for the life and defending an innocent person under attack. I am convinced that our first moral need is to cultivate a conviction that we must face all the major threats to life, not only one or two.
If we are to make life a choice, then we must be critical of the culture of death all around us, a culture which which is overwhelmingly in favor of putting persons to death because of certain crimes, and which is moving towards physician assisted suicide. We may all have different view and feelings about these three major issues of life, but I am concerned that we come to realize that respect for life will cost us something. To move beyond solutions to problems by taking life will require a more personal care for life -- at its beginning and its end.
The abortion debate has been framed as a private choice. So is assisted suicide. Assisted suicide, for instance, has changed the doctor-patient relationship. Medical care now involves the possibility of medically assisted killing. Yet in a civilized society the law exists to protect life. When it also begins to make legal the taking of life, then we can ask what lies ahead for our lives in such a society. We can begin to ask how do we relate to one another humanly and spiritually, especially towards those that have the least power to defend themselves; the very young and the very sick.
We must continue to witness by deed to linking caring for life and defending life. We have usually done well in caring for life as is evident by the many works of charity done by Catholics. I commend those who have supported single mothers, those who work in health care facilities and programs that care for the dying and give them hope in the face of a long, painful dying process, those who volunteer in soup kitchens, those who bring food for our Food Shelf. But as people of faith, regardless of the circumstances, we must see death as a friend, not an enemy; and the experience of death is going from one life to another life.
The human wonder of life for each of us is that life is gift flowing from the very being of God and entrusted to each of us. It is easy for us in the rush of daily life or in its problems to lose the sense of wonder that comes with every gift given to us. It is even easier at the level of a consumer society to count some lives as less valuable than others, especially when caring for them costs-- financially, emotionally, time, effort.
The truth is, however, that each life is of infinite value. Protecting and promoting life, caring for it and defending it, has no simple or easy solutions. It is only in the good news of love preached by Jesus that we can find the vision and strength needed to promote and nurture the great gift of life God shares with us. The parable told by Jesus today is a teaching about the providence of God. Looking more closely at the parable of the vineyard, we see that the landowner has a purpose for the land, and having put everything in place for the desired result, he entrusts the project to others, giving them an interest in its success. But the tenants snub the attempts of the landowner to reclaim the project. They even go so far as to murder the landowner's own son. Even then, the landowner is not controlling but seeking to influence by good will, persuasion, enticement. When this fails, he intervenes decisively, handing over the vineyard to other, more amenable tenants.
Jesus' parable explains how God acts providently in our world -- entrusting, patiently attempting to persuade, decisively intervening, and re-entrusting. The parable suggests that the solution to any Christian dilemma is already present in the problem, but the solution has either been disregarded or overlooked.
We Christians have an optimism about life that is rooted in genuine hope. We believe that all will be well, not because it seems to be well, or because we need to believe it will be well, but because we know and trust the God that will make it well. In adversity, in temptation, in illness, and even in death, we know that the cornerstone of renewal and life is before us in the presence of Jesus Christ, the most dramatic and visible manifestation of the providence of God.
Parents: show examples of life to your children: wedding album, videos, describe the wedding day, so children will know of the beginnings of love that brought them to life. Show them their baby pictures, tell them about their first walk, their first words, their hugs and kisses. Their first days of school.
Life, what a beautiful choice. Hope and Trust in it.
Is 5:1-7/ Phil 4:6-9/ Mt 21:33-43
Jesus had a way of getting peoples attention at once. He spoke about things in which people were vitally interested. Today he would probably talk about the this country's discussions about the war in Iraq; he would talk about unemployment and taxes and the increase of violence in all parts of our society. He would undoubtedly talk about the men and women who want to get elected on November 4th. He would talk about the billionaire abortion industry in our country. He would talk about the ageing mother whose children have forgotten her; the prisoner awaiting death for his crimes and the single mother abandoned by the father of her child. He would talk about the littlest, the weakest and the most vulnerable among us. All of these and all of us are part of his vineyard.
Sometimes our country seems like a vineyard which has gone to seed. Where once fertile hillsides and rich vines grew, we find nothing but wild grapes. Our country was founded on the belief that God had
granted every American an inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Yet the easy accessibility of abortion on demand, our lack of concern for the elderly and those most vulnerable, the billion dollar pornographic industry, seem to be signs of a nation gone astray. Such was the condition of Jerusalem in the time of the prophet Isaiah, when God asks them what he has done to deserve this sad state of affairs. He threatens to let the thorns and the briars take over
this wild vineyard, where he looks for justice and sees only bloodshed.
Today’s Gospel completes the analogy. Jesus tells the story of the landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. Of course, the tenants neglect the vineyard, but worse, when the landlord sends his servants and then his son to inspect the vineyard, the tenants kill his emissaries. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes? Jesus asks his disciples. It does not take a Bible scholar to figure out that they will be punished for their mismanagement of the talents which God has given them.
This is the reason why there is an urgency to the pro-life movement today. For there are doctors who have been given the gift of compassion and healing who have used their talents to abort babies, o to euthanize the elderly or those on life support. There are counsellors who have been given the compassion to help those in distress, who urge people to choose to abort their child. There are parents to whom God has given the power to create life with him, who advise their pregnant daughter to get an abortion. There are caregivers for the elderly who refuse to respect their human dignity, and there are men and women in all sectors of society who refuse to use their talents for the promotion of the dignity of life.
In his letter to the Philippians today, Saint Paul gives us good counsel on how to promote the Gospel of Life. He advises that whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. May we commit ourselves to the protection of all human life from conception to natural death that this nation may, once again, be a land known for its honor and its love of the truth, guided by the God in whom we trust.
In our country 22% of all pregnancies end in abortion. Since 1973 45 million babies have been aborted. While we must continue to center our respect for life on the life of the unborn child, we must also care for all of life. That means supporting and responding to the basic human needs of nutrition, health, housing and education. It can also mean caring for the life and defending an innocent person under attack. I am convinced that our first moral need is to cultivate a conviction that we must face all the major threats to life, not only one or two.
If we are to make life a choice, then we must be critical of the culture of death all around us, a culture which which is overwhelmingly in favor of putting persons to death because of certain crimes, and which is moving towards physician assisted suicide. We may all have different view and feelings about these three major issues of life, but I am concerned that we come to realize that respect for life will cost us something. To move beyond solutions to problems by taking life will require a more personal care for life -- at its beginning and its end.
The abortion debate has been framed as a private choice. So is assisted suicide. Assisted suicide, for instance, has changed the doctor-patient relationship. Medical care now involves the possibility of medically assisted killing. Yet in a civilized society the law exists to protect life. When it also begins to make legal the taking of life, then we can ask what lies ahead for our lives in such a society. We can begin to ask how do we relate to one another humanly and spiritually, especially towards those that have the least power to defend themselves; the very young and the very sick.
We must continue to witness by deed to linking caring for life and defending life. We have usually done well in caring for life as is evident by the many works of charity done by Catholics. I commend those who have supported single mothers, those who work in health care facilities and programs that care for the dying and give them hope in the face of a long, painful dying process, those who volunteer in soup kitchens, those who bring food for our Food Shelf. But as people of faith, regardless of the circumstances, we must see death as a friend, not an enemy; and the experience of death is going from one life to another life.
The human wonder of life for each of us is that life is gift flowing from the very being of God and entrusted to each of us. It is easy for us in the rush of daily life or in its problems to lose the sense of wonder that comes with every gift given to us. It is even easier at the level of a consumer society to count some lives as less valuable than others, especially when caring for them costs-- financially, emotionally, time, effort.
The truth is, however, that each life is of infinite value. Protecting and promoting life, caring for it and defending it, has no simple or easy solutions. It is only in the good news of love preached by Jesus that we can find the vision and strength needed to promote and nurture the great gift of life God shares with us. The parable told by Jesus today is a teaching about the providence of God. Looking more closely at the parable of the vineyard, we see that the landowner has a purpose for the land, and having put everything in place for the desired result, he entrusts the project to others, giving them an interest in its success. But the tenants snub the attempts of the landowner to reclaim the project. They even go so far as to murder the landowner's own son. Even then, the landowner is not controlling but seeking to influence by good will, persuasion, enticement. When this fails, he intervenes decisively, handing over the vineyard to other, more amenable tenants.
Jesus' parable explains how God acts providently in our world -- entrusting, patiently attempting to persuade, decisively intervening, and re-entrusting. The parable suggests that the solution to any Christian dilemma is already present in the problem, but the solution has either been disregarded or overlooked.
We Christians have an optimism about life that is rooted in genuine hope. We believe that all will be well, not because it seems to be well, or because we need to believe it will be well, but because we know and trust the God that will make it well. In adversity, in temptation, in illness, and even in death, we know that the cornerstone of renewal and life is before us in the presence of Jesus Christ, the most dramatic and visible manifestation of the providence of God.
Parents: show examples of life to your children: wedding album, videos, describe the wedding day, so children will know of the beginnings of love that brought them to life. Show them their baby pictures, tell them about their first walk, their first words, their hugs and kisses. Their first days of school.
Life, what a beautiful choice. Hope and Trust in it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)